


Oasis

by helado de brownie (helado)



Category: Caves of Qud (Video Game), どうぶつの森 | Animal Crossing Series
Genre: Abduction, Crash Landing, Desert, Dissociation, Gen, Goodbyes, Homesickness, Kidnapping, Misgendering, Theft, Threats of Violence, Trapped
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 15:30:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19793773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helado/pseuds/helado%20de%20brownie
Summary: My name is Rhi, and I left my home for the planet below to escape the rigid confines of my life in the arcology. When I arrive, I find myself being transported against my will to a place called Oasis.





	Oasis

I don't remember how I got here.

The last I remember, I was hurtling towards the planet in the escape pod I stole. I must have passed out from the g-force… but that doesn't explain what I'm doing on this transport, or why it's moving no less.

I look through my bag to make sure everything is present. The space suit is still here, although I didn't end up needing it because the escape pod had its own ATMOS device. The rations I stole from both my room and the kitchen are still here, untampered. The paring knife I took from my room is also here, but the butcher knife is missing. Not just that — all of my most suitable weapons are missing, including the stun rod and my hacked laser pistol.

I think someone is in here with me, too. I keep catching glimpses of movement behind the transparent door into the next compartment. I can only hope that, whoever they are, they prove friendly, and that if they don't, my combat skills prove to be sufficient for the strange new threats of this strange new world, even lacking an appropriate weapon.

I look out the window. The scenery is moving too fast for me to get a good idea of where I might be, but I see tones of gray and brown on the ground, and blue in the sky. It doesn't tell me much — from space, I could see that much of the planet was salt desert, and that does seem to be where I am. But the desert is vast, and I could've landed almost anywhere. And I certainly didn't see any strange transport artifacts moving along the salt desert.

My eyes snap to the compartment door as I see it begin to open in my peripheral vision. The being who steps through walks with a human-like gait, but looks like some sort of… humanoid cat creature, with large red eyes, blue fur except for the patches of white on their face and front, and hands that look like paws but that are adapted for grasping.

“Hi! Mind if I sit here?” they rasp as they come within speaking distance, indicating the bench across from the one I'm sitting in. As I'm processing the absurdity of the fact that they speak in a language I know despite the fact that the lineage of my arcology has been cut off from this world for _who knows_ how long, I barely register that they sit down before I would have even had the chance to tell them no.

“My name's Rover, what's yours?” they say.

“Rhi,” I respond before I can even consider the question of whether it's wise to give this being my real name.

“Rhi? Is that short for anything?”

“Short for Rhi.”

Rover gives a raspy laugh like the sound of peeling onions with a rusty knife. “And what do you think of your name?”

I've never had anyone ask me that before, so I try to at least give a thoughtful reply. “Well, I picked it myself, sort of, so I'd say I like it. It suits me.”

“Well, I think it's a very nice name for a woman such as yourself.”

I wince. ”Not a woman.” I was hoping that the denizens of this planet would have slightly less restrictive gender ideals than those of my home. It's almost painful to have been so sadly mistaken.

“Ah.” says Rover. ”A man then.”

“Not a man either.”

”Then… ?”

I don't respond. I'm about done with this conversation, emotionally.

“Well,” says Rover. ”Where are you headed?”

“Where are _any_ of us headed?” I say wearily, no longer making eye contact. I'd rather not be here right now. I want to go to my room, except I know how impossible that is now. How impossible it will be from now on. I try not to think about it too hard.

Rover laughs their onion peeler laugh again, which has begun to grate on me. ”I was just being funny anyway. There's only one place this train goes to, and that's Oasis.”

“Yes. Of course I knew that.” This was all a mistake.

Rover looks at me skeptically, but continues. ”I know the guy who runs the place. Tom Nook. If you don't already have a place to stay…” They trail off, leaving the offer implicit.

I look back up at them and see them grinning a pitying grin. Are they _really_ trying to help? Or do they just want something from me? “What _is_ Oasis?”

“Well, to a lot of people, it's home. I think you could get used to it there. It's probably not like… wherever you came from, in space.”

This cat thinks I'm from space. Well, they're not _exactly_ wrong. But how could they know… ?

Oh.

“ _You_ dragged me onto this train.” I say, feeling slightly violated that someone moved me while I was so vulnerable. I stand up and loom over them threateningly, even though the closest I can offer to a threat at the moment is a paring knife.

I suddenly realize, they're probably _also_ the one who took my “belongings”.

“Where are my things?” I say, pulling the paring knife. ”Give me back my things or I give you this knife in your eye.”

Their pitying grin gives way to what appears to be real sadness. ”I'm sorry, I know you might not believe me, but you're better off if they don't find them on you when you arrive in Oasis.”

I lower the knife. ”Tell me what Oasis is.”

“I haven't been lying to you. It _is_ a home. And I think you could learn to be happy there. Like everything else around here, it's built on the debris of the Eaters.”

“The Eaters?” I've never heard of anyone called Eaters.

”You know.” They gesture vaguely at me. “ _Your_ kind. Your _ancestors_.”

“What. What do you know about my ancestors?”

“The Eaters are the civilization that existed here long ago. And, from the looks of you, you're a human, and a True Kin no less, so you're directly descended from them. Everything that happens here happens in the Eaters' shadow. Oasis is a little historical model of the Eaters, in the form of a village. You'll… see what I mean when you get there.”

This is a lot to process, so I gloss over most of it and say ”You haven't said where _you're_ going.”

Rover averts their eyes. ”I don't belong there. I made a deal with Nook that I could leave, but I had to bring in someone else. I brought _you_ , because I don't think your chances were good otherwise. I'm sorry that I didn't give you a choice. But, again, I think you can be happy there.”

So, reading between the lines, once I arrive, I won't be allowed to leave. But… it's a chance to start over. A chance to exist outside the rigid confines and restrictions of the arcology, even if, judging from Rover's reaction, they may or may not _fully_ accept me for who I am. Still…

“All right.” I say, sheathing the knife and sitting back down. “I'm sorry I almost stabbed you.”

“You wouldn't have been wrong to do so.“ says Rover. ”I've been a terrible person for most of my life.”

I shake my head. “I'm not a violent person. I don't think _anyone_ should have to die, or get hurt. And I think people should be able to live their lives how they need to. That's… kind of why I left my arcology.”

”I know the feeling.” Rover stands. ”Your stop is almost here. I'm going to be staying on the train until the next waystation, so this is where we part ways. I hope I'll have done right by you, Rhi, but I'm never going to get to know whether I did. I give you permission to hate me for what I've done to you, if it helps you to think about me that way.”

It's sad, meeting someone who… even though I almost stabbed them, might have been a friend in other circumstances, only to have to say goodbye to them forever. I get a little teary.

“Don't cry, Rhi. Just keep doing your best.”

Rover returns to the next compartment as the train begins to slow. I don't follow them.

The scenery outside the windows becomes clear. It's the salt desert for sure, but coming up fast is a verdant patch of green that appears to be larger than the entire arcology.

The train slows to a stop as it hits the edge of the green, and the doors open.

A disembodied voice intones quietly and crisply, seemingly from every direction at once: ”Ook! Ook! Welcome to Oasis. Please depart the train in an orderly manner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lately I've been keeping myself busy making mods for Caves of Qud instead of writing fics, but I finally got around to editing and posting this chapter! Hope you enjoy.


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